Search - Erich Wolfgang Korngold, John Mauceri, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra :: Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Das Wunder der Heliane

Exquisite

Ironcharles | Houston, TX | 07/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't think I can come up with many more superlatives to describe this recording than have already been used. If you haven't heard Korngold before, I would refer you to the 1975 recording of his opera, "Die tote Stadt" as an introduction. It's not as big of a mouthful as this score. If you have heard Korngold before, you know what to expect. He was a staunch Late Romantic, and never left that compositional style throughout his lifetime. As has been stated by other reviewers, Korngold is the reason why movie music is what it is today, with scores to over 25 films, including "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Captain Blood," "The Prince and the Pauper," "The Sea Hawk," and "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex," which is my personal favorite. Four of these scores are available on a recording conducted by Andre Previn, which I highly recommend as another alternative for the beginning Korngold listener or for the avid fan. With all this high quality output, I fail to understand why "movie music" is considered such a pejorative in "serious music" circles. But that is another discussion entirely...



There have been comparisons to Strauss and Puccini ("Die tote Stadt" was reportedly Puccini's favorite opera. Before his death, he avidly campaigned for Ricordi to publish it in an Italian version). Personally, I hear a lot more Mahler in Korngold than I hear Strauss, albeit Korngold's music is often less introspective than Mahler's. Mahler was a bridge between the late romantics and the serial, highly introspective school of Arnold Schoenberg. Mahler's writing, while extremely chromatic, is fundamentally built upon tonality, though he delights in defying the typical uses of it. Korngold relishes this extreme chromaticism, and this opera is Korngold at his most extreme. Mahler's music is often very melodic(just listen to the 4th movement of the 5th symphony for one example)--the same I don't feel can be said for Strauss--and Korngold's ability to craft a melody is one of the best I've ever heard. This particular opera perhaps lacks some of the instant hummability of Tote Stadt's "Glück das mir verblieb" and Pierrot's Tanzlied, but this opera too has its grand tunes. The Stranger's music in Act I is beautiful. He doesn't have an aria but several ariettes, all of which are quite melodic. Heliane's aria in Act II has a wonderful repeated melodic figure that feels like it could go on forever. Act III's 8 minute orchestral prelude similarly has a melody that stretches and overlaps itself, building to climax after climax before settling down, very reminiscent of the slow movement of a Mahler symphony, just to rev back up again for what has got to be one of the hardest chorus scenes ever written. The baritone's aria in Act III, much like the Tanzlied from "Die tote Stadt," is lyrical and melodic to the nth degree. The final duet between the Stranger and Heliane is quite glorious--just what we'd expect from a "movie composer" for two characters ascending triumphantly into heaven.



That being said, yes, one must address the fact that the story line is a bit heavy-handed, plodding, wordy, and ungainly. Somehow, though, Korngold manages to remove some of that awkwardness through his ever-dramatic music. It's not a libretto that Puccini would have ever set, though its grandiosity is on par with "Turandot." Korngold would have been better off to have had his father's dramatic hand in crafting the libretto (the two wrote the libretto to "Die tote Stadt" under the pen name Paul Schott).



"Das Wunder der Heliane" surely ranks as one of the most exquisite operas that is never performed. Listening to this CD may be as close as any of us ever get to experiencing this opera. I do wonder why more opera companies don't perform Korngold's other work, specfically "Die tote Stadt," more often (though his Violin Concerto has been appearing more of late). I attended a performance of the Lord of the Rings score at my local symphony hall a few years ago and the place was packed. Clearly, people enjoy this lush movie music. Why not mount an opera that will give them the same? "Das Wunder der Heliane" may not be a great first choice for many reasons (it is obscure and hellaciously difficult for both the orchestra and the singers), but eventually it would be a spectacular show to see in person."